An Ugly Color
by Lyra Anna Ly
Summary: Emma hadn't always liked Isaac as much as she did later in life. No, when the two had met, neither had been too fond of the other, only children when fate decided to step in and force the unlikely duo together. Dear cousin Karl playing a key role in the development. AI Football GGO fan fiction.
1. An Ugly Color

**So I just looked at the ages of the characters in AI Football GGO, just so that I could write this story. The ages are as follows in the anime:(_?)=Which is it fandom mates, please help**

**-Isaac(Issac?) ~ 13  
****-Karl (Carl? ) ~ 13  
****-Timmy ~ 13  
****-Cat ~ 14  
****-Shawn ~ 14  
****-Oscar ~ 13**

**This is why I've decided that Emma will be a year younger. She's 12 and in her last year of primary school. The others are in their first year of secondary school (other than Shawn who's in 8th grade).**

**Ages in this two-shot are as follows**

**Cat ~ 8  
****Isaac, Karl, Timmy ~ 7  
****Emma ~ 6**

* * *

Emma hadn't been all that old when she met Issac, not that she'd always liked him as she did later in life. No, when the two had met, neither had been too fond of the other, only children when fate decided to step in and force the unlikely duo together.

Karl had instantly liked the boy, and Emma just couldn't see why. What made this kid, only a year older than her, so much more fun. Even when Timmy had come around the first time, the two elders had played around with her more than the three of them were now. Plus, what kind of a name is Isaac.

She'd said that to her older cousin too, about a week after the boys had met and the non-stop fawning over his skills had not come to rest. Karl had merely waved her off, but Timmy, the shy little kid even back then had asked a very bold question to the defense of his friend.

"What kind of name is Emma?"

"The kind that's short for Emberlyn!" Emma responded. The shout caused Karl to stop in his excited bouncing, and Timmy to stop mid-bite in a chili dog that had been left from lunch.

"Wait, is it really?" Timmy asked, not having known that previously.

"Yes." she huffed, folding her arms over her chest in what was to her, defensive.

"What's wrong with you?" Karl asked, a bit annoyed but also confused as to why his normally quiet cousin was getting so worked up.

"Nothing." She practically growled as the doorbell rang. Karl instantly forgot the conversation (as did Timmy) in favor of running towards the door as fast as possible. The two boys nearly knocked down Karl and Emma's Aunt Andy, who was watching the kids for their parents.

Karl's father, Maine, was the elder brother to Emma's own mother, Claire, Aunt Andy being the eldest of the three. She'd never gotten married, and couldn't have her own children, but she absolutely loved taking care of them. Andy had become the go-to babysitter for the family, even those related to them through marriage. Erin's sister left her kids here sometimes as well, Erin being Emma's father.

"Well then, jealousy really _is_ an ugly color, who knew?" Aunt Andy teased, walking over to the fridge to pull out a bit of meat.

"I'm not jealous." Emma defended, stomping her foot as her irritation reached its peak. "I just don't like him."

"Okay, not jealous, but why don't you like him?" Andy asked, a teasing smile on her face. She let the door close, a package of chicken in her hand.

"Why _should_ I like him? He's done nothing for me." Emma reasoned, but the sass in her voice was proof that this wasn't the full truth.

"Maybe not, but your cousin likes him. Isn't that enough? He keeps Karl out of you business."

"Karl doesn't get in my business in the first place. All Karl wants to do is play on the computer, play his GGG football or whatever, and hang out with Timmy and Isaac." Emma flopped into the nearest chair at the table as she said this, watching Andy as the woman

"Which brings us back to my original statement, jealousy is in ugly color on you sweetheart. Hate to tell you but it needs to be said."

"Or we could pretend you never did, and just help me."

"Help you what?" Andy asked innocently, but the smirk on her face suggested she knew exactly what the younger wanted. "Help you get over it while also getting back at your cousin for ignoring you?"

"Aunty…" Emma sighed, her voice coming off as exasperated, but the large smile on her face suggested that was exactly what she needed.

"Well dear, if you want him to feel bad about ignoring you in favor of this new kid, why not do the same with one of your own?" Emberlyn hummed thoughtfully, pulling herself out of the chair a moment later. Andy smiled as she watched the girl grab her jacket. "Remember to be back before dinner."

"Yes Ma'am."

She realised almost immediately after she reached the living room that she'd never actually seen Isaac though, as proved by the fact that the brunette was entirely unfamiliar to her when she saw him there. He was playing a video game with her cousin and Timmy, but had stopped long enough to turn to her. Emma didn't expect for him to pause the game when he saw her.

"Hey, I'm Isaac. Who're you?" There was a smile on his face, and Emma could guess that he'd meant for the question to be a lot less offensive than he'd said it. She couldn't fault him for it though, knowing that he probably hadn't been taught much better, Karl certainly hadn't.

"That's just my little cousin, no one important." Karl stated, having turned to see who the boy was talking to. "What are you doing out of the kitchen? I thought you were gonna help Aunt Andy cook or something like that."

"I'm going out idiot. Why else would I have my jacket on and be heading for the door?"

"Cause you're weird like that. Aren't your parents gonna be upset if you're not here when they come to pick you up."

"No, cause I'll be back by then. You may only be spending the night, but I'm here for the week, remember?"

"No."

"Clearly. Guess I should have expected it though, you have way to much in your head to remember things like that, right?" Karl's eyes narrowed at the sarcasm that had leaked into her voice.

"It's easy to forget. Seriously Emma, what's wrong with you today. You're being even weirder than normal, and that's saying something."

"And your acting like even more of a jerk, but no surprise there!" Emma nearly shouted, turning back to the door and running out. She wasted no time slipping her feet into her shoes, which she'd left on the porch earlier, and continuing on her way to the park. The six-year-old ran as far as she could away from the house, expecting someone to have tried following her. Sure enough, only a moment after she'd left, Andy was on the porch, looking around in alarm. The elder had heard the argument from the kitchen, and was starting to wish she hadn't suggested a plan that involved leaving.

Karl, Timmy, and Isaac were already on the porch, ready to chase after the youngest, when she finally got her thoughts in order enough to ask them to go after her. They wasted no time making their way towards the direction that she'd gone, sprinting instead of running as she'd done.

Emma reached the park with plenty of time to spare though. She ran as far as she could before bumping into something, not having been paying much attention to where she was going. Something though, or rather _someone_, extended their hand to help her up as Emma began apologizing to her. "Sorry about that, I should've been paying attention."

"No, it's fine. Why were you in such a rush?" The someone asked, and Emma looked up to find a pretty girl, a bit older than herself, with long black hair pushed out of her face with a red headband. Her shirt was light pink, with darker pink hearts on it, and she was wearing a pair of red jeans.

"Karl." Emma answered simply, not expecting the older girl to understand or even know who he was. The girl surprised her though, repeating the name as she thought for a moment. When the stranger finally did remember what she was trying to though, her face morphed into annoyance and poorly hidden rage.

"What did that bonehead do this time? And to a younger girl no less? Hey, why are you crying?!" Sure enough, when Emma raised a shaking hand to her cheek, there were tears streaming down her face without consent, much to her embarrassment. "Please don't cry… Where were you trying to go? Maybe I could take you there on my bike? It would be a lot faster than walking. Okay?"

"Okay." Emma responded, her voice barely above a whisper. She followed the girl to a bike that was leaning up against a tree, while listening to the story of how the girl had stopped to rest her legs and drink a bit. Within the next minute, they were on the bike and headed down the road.

"My name's Cat, by the way."

* * *

**And… cliffhanger! Will they get to talk her into telling them what's wrong, will they not be able to, even I don't know! (That's a lie though, of course I know.) You'll have to find out in part 2 (whenever that comes out.)**


	2. Friends?

**Oh My Merlin, it's been so LONG**

**Karl -7  
****Cat -8  
****Isaac -7  
****Timmy -7**

**And most importantly….  
****6-year-old Emma!**

**Welcome you all back to….. An Ugly Color Part Two! (I.E. Friends?)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own AI Football GGO**

* * *

It took three hours for the boys to locate Emma after the fit she'd had, once they'd gone right back to the start.

Karl seemed to be in a panic, his face completely void of color as he realized that there was very little chance of finding her on their own. While he may not have made it very clear that week, he loved his cousin dearly, and knew that she had every right to be acting like that.

Timmy and Isaac stayed quiet as they walked their friend back to his Aunt's house. Andy was sure to chew them out when they arrived, and thy could only hope that she hadn't gone into a fit and called the family up to tell them.

Unbeknownst to the slightly older kids, Emma had been returned only five minutes before them, Cat having convinced her to go back and talk to her family.

"Auntie?" Karl called when he finally reached the house again, not expecting to be tackled by a smaller person. He didn't even realize he was on the ground until he heard the muffled voice of his little cousin apologizing for being mean. Not that he could fully understand her anyways. All Karl knew for sure, was that there was a the very familiar weight of his cousin, and his shirt was most definitely going to be soaked with her tears, bu the elder couldn't seem to care.

"Emma?" Karl asked, his voice cracking as his eyes began to shine with tears of hopefulness. The younger nodded into his shirt, more muffled sentences falling from her mouth, just in time for him to wrap his arms around her as well, ducking his head into her hair as his own tears started to fall.

Andy stood in the doorway, watching the two with a fond smile as she wiped her own tears away, praying that a situation like this would never happen again. After a moment of trying to catch her breath enough to talk properly, she turned to the other two boys, who had made their way in and closed the door behind them. As she opened her mouth to thank them, Cat finally made her own presence known, "I thought you might be related."

Karl tilted his head just enough to look at the older girl, who was standing in the door next to Andy now. Cat smiled, asking the question she had been dying to have answered since "You're cousins, right?"

A small laugh escaped the youngest as she pulled way from her cousin enough to turn to the girl that had brought her back. "Yeah, Aunty Andy's the older sister of my mom."

Cat nodded slightly, walking past the cousins with the intent to get to the door, but something caused the girl to stall, just before leaving. "You know, if you ever want to talk again, you can always come hang out with me. You're pretty cool, Emma, remember that."

Emma let a small and relieved smile appear on her face as she nodded, and the older seemed to understand, smirking a bit before she finally stepped onto the porch.

"Thank you." Andy called before the door closed, and Cat turned to her, the silent question clear on her face, asking what for? Andy knew enough about kids to know that they never quite understood how much things like this mattered. "For bringing her home."

Cat smiled, and closed the door behind her as she left for her own house. She'd already called her parents to tell them where she was, and why she wouldn't make it back for her own curfew.

It wasn't long before the others left, Karl asking them to let the him talk to his cousin, as the day had proved that the two needed to work out their problem now, rather then later. The three sat down in the middle of the living room, all having changed and gotten somewhat comfortable. Andy had pulled Emma into her side the moment the girl had come down in her sweatpants and pajama shirt (not that it could be seen underneath her three sizes to big blue sweatshirt), insisting that it made her feel better to have the girl near her after the events of the day. Emma didn't mind much, she didn't disagree with her aunt in the least, and had a feeling she wouldn't mind the clinginess for a few weeks.

Karl was the one that had surprised her, as he had come down and immediately made himself comfortable laying on her other side. They just sat their for a moment, taking in the silence and comfort of each other. That was when Emma decided it was time to reiterate her apologies. "I'm sorry for running off like that. I didn't mean to say all those things, it just slipped out."

"Don't worry about it," Karl sighed, "as long as you're safe and here now. Emma you could have just talked to me, you didn't need to let it build up like that."

"I did." Emma mumbled, tears springing to her eyes again as she recalled all the times she had tried talking to Karl about listening to her. He was always more excited about Issac coming over, and Emma just felt unimportant in comparison. "I did try talking to you, but you were never listening. You heard me, but you didn't listen."

Karl flinched a bit at his cousins tone. Emma was always soft-spoken, but the family tried to make it a point to listen to her, because lord knew her parents never did. Her father had planned out her whole life the moment her found out she was going to be a girl, and none of it included her having an opinion. The whole side of his family was set in their ways, and her mother had learned to just go with it.

Emma hated it, an everyone else in the family could see that. Her father expected so much of the young girl, and would never listen to reason. "I'm sorry, Em."

Inferior, that seemed to be a word that had and would continue to work its way seamlessly into her mind. Emberlyn had an inferiority complex that had been built upon years of strict rules her parents set, and their ignorance towards her own opinions. Her mothers side of the family had always made her feel like she could really be herself. Even if her and Karl didn't always get along, she had never felt like he would break her trust, not in any way that would have her go off like she wanted to her father.

Even now, it had been more of the buildup of problems that had caused her to have such a quick fuse, not real anger towards just her cousin. She loved them all dearly, and knew that each of them truly meant it when they apologized for something like that, and he knew in turn, that she had already forgiven him. Andy didn't say anything, just kept her niece and nephew close to her, not wanting to have a repeat of this, ever.

"So, you and Cat?" Karl asked after another moment. Emma hummed in question, looking her cousin in the eyes. "Cat's two years older than you, and I'm curious. What happened?"

Emma smiled, but didn't really intend on answering that question anytime soon. "Well, let's just say we're friends now."

"Friends?"

"Yeah. I also met a guy named Riff, we're friends now to."

"WAIT, YOU MET RIFF!" Karl asked, like she had just said she met the most popular gamer in the world. Emma hummed in response, not quite answering, but she wouldn't be revealing anything about her adventure anytime soon. He'd have to earn that story.


End file.
